JoeyJoelle

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If this title triggered you, gimme a minute. I know in this time and age millionaires are considered capitalistic demons, but hear me out.

For the longest time, I thought becoming a millionaire was all about reaching a 7-figure number. And let’s be honest here, when we hear the term millionaire that’s what we all think of: seven figures sitting in your bank account that would somehow signal that you’ve made it, that you’ve done life right, that you can finally relax. It feels like a destination, like once you got there, everything else would fall into place effortlessly.

But the more I am reading books written by the finance guru’s of the 80’s, the more I’m starting to question the definition of a millionaire. Because if money alone made you rich, then everyone with a high income would automatically be fulfilled, at peace, and free. And that’s simply not the truth.

You see it all the time. People who have money but no time, money but no peace of mind, money but no real connection to themselves or others. And at some point, you have to ask yourself what we’re actually measuring when we talk about wealth, because clearly, it’s not just numbers.

Why Becoming a Millionaire Is Bigger Than You

One of the biggest shifts I’ve been sitting with is the idea that becoming a millionaire is actually not about you nor about the money. And I know that sounds almost contradictory in a world that constantly tells you to focus on yourself, build for yourself, secure everything for yourself. But when you look a little deeper, the people who create real, sustainable wealth are rarely moving from a place that is purely self-centered.

This was mentioned in particular in the book “The awakened millionaire” by dr. Joe Vitale. He mentions how we’ve distorted the term millionaire, simply to a game of numbers. But how there are people who have built their own legacy, and considered themselves to be a millionaire. People who have been able to give other people opportunities, without ever becoming rich. And still felt like millionaires.

They’re building something that extends beyond them. There’s an alignment between what they love, what they’re naturally good at, and what serves other people. It’s not forced, it’s not calculated in a cold way, it’s integrated. Their passion, their purpose, and their mission are not separate things they are trying to juggle, but one thing expressed in different forms.

And the money becomes a byproduct of that alignment.

Not the goal, but the consequence.

That realization shifts the question from “how can I make more money?” to “what am I building that naturally creates value?” and “how am I showing up in a way that actually contributes to something beyond just my own gain?”

Money Is Neutral, Not Evil

We’ve all heard of the saying: money is the root of all evil.

But have you heard the full quote?

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. – 1 Timothy 6:10

In other words: it is the excessive desire for, or obsession with, wealth—not money itself—that causes ethical breaches, selfishness, and misery. 

When you strip money down to what it actually is, it’s just paper. Ink. A tool that was introduced by Ancient China and Rome almost 1400 years ago, and we have come to agreement that we’ve all decided to participate in.

It only has value because we collectively believe it does.

So how can something that is, at its core, neutral, be inherently evil?

Hate to break it to you: it can’t.

What gives money its weight is the intention behind it. The way it’s used, the attachment people develop towards it, the meaning they assign to it. That’s where things either become constructive or destructive. And even in the Bible, the message was never that money itself is the problem, but the attachment to it.

Money is a tool, and like any tool, it reflects the person using it.

Redefining What a Millionaire Actually Is

What if being a millionaire has everything to do with how you experience your life?

What if it’s about freedom in the most real sense of the word? The freedom to decide how your days look, the freedom to create without constantly being pulled into survival mode, the freedom to rest without guilt, the freedom to fully express who you are without feeling like you have to shrink or adjust.

There are people who may never hit seven figures on paper, but they have built a life that is entirely their own. They move with intention, they create from a place of truth, and they are not trapped in systems that drain them.

And when you look at that kind of life, you have to question whether the traditional definition of a millionaire is even complete.

Because if someone owns their time, their energy, their creativity, and their direction, are they really lacking anything?

The Awakened Millionaire

To me, a millionaire is not someone defined by a number, but someone defined by alignment. Someone who understands that money is not something to chase, but something that flows as a result of building a life rooted in purpose and expressed with intention.

It’s someone who creates impact simply by being fully in who they are, and who allows money to support that life, not control it.

And the beautiful part is that this doesn’t have to exclude financial wealth. You can still make money, a lot of it even. But the difference is that the money no longer defines you.

You define what money gets to do in your life.

And That Is Why I Believe We Should All Become Awakened Millionaires

Maybe the real question isn’t “how do I become a millionaire?”

Maybe it’s who you become when you stop chasing money and start building a life that money naturally wants to be part of.

It’s no secret that we are living in a time where the people with the most money are not always the ones with the purest intentions.

Which is exactly why it is necessary for people who are grounded, aware, and intentional… to have money too. Because money in the hands of the right people doesn’t just sit. It gets circulated in the right places. Builds community. Heals generations.

And that’s also why the narrative around money has been distorted for so long. Because if phrases have been twisted just enough to make us side-eye wealth, to associate it with greed, we will quietly fear what we might become if we ever have too much of it.

Because if you believe that having money makes you evil, you will never allow yourself to fully have it. You will self-sabotage.

And if you never allow yourself to have it, you will never have the power to use it.

But that… is a conversation for another time.

For now, just know this: the goal was never to chase money.

The goal is to become someone who knows exactly what to do with it when it arrives.